Digital marketing has become an essential part of every business.

Businesses that initially were reluctant to take on the new technologies or see their potential, have had their heads turned by the many success stories in industry.

Digital marketing has many facets and social media is just one aspect that has attracted a lot of success. I have worked with many businesses over a number of years and this has given me a good insight into using social media effectively.

Selecting the right channels can make all the difference in creating a successful social media campaign.

• Companies need to select their social media very carefully. There are many famous names in social media and often, some companies can make the mistake of simply following the UK’s top five (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, twitter and Pinterest), rather than concentrating on the needs of the business. Companies need to realise that not all channels are appropriate for all businesses.

• Another common mistake is businesses blindly following competitors. Just because a competitor is using a certain tool does not mean that one should follow, as the competitor could be using the wrong social media to communicate their messages – e.g. twitter is a very useful social media tool but not suitable for all businesses.

• Also, the selection criteria for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses is quite different. It is recommended that this should be taken into account when selecting the channels to use.

Having selected the right social media for your business, the next step is recognising that the content of the social media posts is of paramount importance. What content is posted, how often it is posted and how consumers engage with it, is where the real value lies. Businesses need to ensure that posts and updates are both engaging and informative to the reader.

• Having a social media presence e.g. on Facebook is not enough if you are not posting, or are posting too often.

• Keep the posts specific to the social media you use e.g. Facebook allows the posting of large messages, whereas twitter is restricted to 140 words. Therefore, the posts used on Facebook may not be suitable for twitter. This is a common mistake made by companies.

Social media marketing is a specialist field and should be handled by experts, as a lot of time and investment is required in preparing posts suitable for specific social media tools.

Devising a content schedule, deciding on the content and its appropriate content mix (sales and information), has led industry leaders acknowledging that simply having a social media presence is no longer enough - how you use it is the key to success.